A U.S. court has sentenced a Pakistani man to 40 years in prison for plotting to bomb a British shopping center.
Abid Naseer, 29, was convicted earlier this year of providing support to al-Qaida, conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaida and conspiring to use a destructive device.
"You are not a typical criminal," Judge Raymond Dearie told Naseer in the U.S. federal court in Brooklyn Tuesday. "You are a terrorist."
Naseer was first arrested in Britain in 2009 where he led an al-Qaida cell that was planning the attack on the Manchester mall. The planned bombing was part of a coordinated plot which also included attacks on the New York City subway and a Danish newspaper.
Although he was never charged in Britain, he was extradited to the United States in 2013 to face charges related to the subway plot.
Two men, Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay, have already pleaded guilty in the U.S. to charges stemming from the New York subway plot.
Naseer, who represented himself at his trial,was raised in Peshawar, Pakistan and called himself a semi-professional cricket player. He says he plans to file an appeal.
Some material for this report came from AP, AFP and Reuters.